Remember
by our dancing days
Summary: A re-imagining of Lavender Brown. / Drabble.


**Title**: Remember

**Character: **Lavender Brown.

**Summary: **A re-imagining of Lavender Brown. Drabble.

**Notes: **I honestly have no idea where this came from. I absolutely adore Lavender; I find her a mix of Pansy Parkinson, Drew from Percy Jackson, and strangely, Prim from the Hunger Games. Also, this in **present tense. **Which is very weird for me. But I feel that Lavender is a very present tense kind of girl. In other words, ignore my ramblings, and enjoy?

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><p>"<em>Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light."<br>- _Albus Dumbledore, the Prisoner of Azkaban.

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><p>Lavender tries very, <em>very, <em>hard to smile (grimace) at the gathered crowd. She had left half way through the DA meeting (so proclaimed as the army to rebuild Hogwarts and the students in her walls) and returned an hour later with a small, barely visible ink tattoo in the very centre of her back.

She shows it to them smugly, lifting her t-shirt and revealing it to the whole room of war heroes.

She smiles (grimaces) as Mrs Weasley tries very, _very, _hard not to cry (break down) at the sight of it.

Lavender herself is very proud of it. The font is her own creation - she has always liked art. She made the curves perfectly rounded and the symbolism of it haunting. It is her own mini masterpiece, sitting on the centre of her back like it truly belongs there.

_Fred Weasley. _

Harry is the first to come up to her. She expects a hug, or a kiss, or a thank you, but none of it comes. Instead, she receives a small smile and it says so much more than anything else ever could.

Lavender smiles back, and pats his arm consolingly. He understands, though, and removes her fingers gently. She doesn't exactly want to be reminded she is alive right now, and a warm touch will do just that.

Everybody else follows Harry's lead, and they all offer their own twisted versions of smiles in her wake.

The next DA meeting comes around, and Andromeda brings Teddy. Teddy, with his amber eyes and hair the colour of turquoise, brightens up the room. Harry's silent tears as he holds his godson are the only crystallized things that remind them of the memories.

So Lavender leaves again, but this time returns to a virtually empty house. Only Andromeda sits at the table, the aristocratic Black sense of pride refusing to let her slump.

_Remus Lupin_ is the tattoo this week.

This continues. More tattoos form a beautiful, intricate web across Lavender's back, dipping and diving into the hollows of her marred and broken skin. She doesn't need scars to remind her of battle, though.

_Tonks Lupin_ (as she would've wished to be called). _Colin Creevey. __And_ quite possibly against her will, _Severus Snape. Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody. Ted Tonks. Albus Dumbledore. Sirius Black. Cedric Diggory. James Potter. Lily Potter. Fabian and Gideon Prewett._ Slowly, over the next year or so, they all appear on the lace artwork of Lavender Brown's back.

She doesn't even need to know them for their names to be placed there. They just have to be remembered. And this way, she knows they will all never be forgotten.

It is almost two years before Lavender returns to the DA meeting with a real, true smile on her face.

Almost immediately, Harry goes over to the girl who used to be Lavender Brown and hugs her tightly, offering more than the small smile that graces everybody else's faces. It is because he knows, too.

"What's the last name then, Lavender?" Seamus asks in his Irish brogue, leaning forward.

Lavender smiles again at Harry because she can see it in his eyes.

It's funny, because they are not together, and they aren't even remotely more than acquaintances before the Battle of Hogwarts. But they understand each other a bit more now, and she takes comfort in the way Harry leans slightly against Ginny. It means there is hope for her, too.

Lavender takes a long time choosing her last name. The dead are finished. But she has a feeling that there is just one name missing, and she has two in mind.

She gives up on her first idea, because she knows he has already acknowledged it and she doesn't need to also. So she hands Harry a slip of paper with a design etched onto the surface in green ink.

_Harry Potter._

He smiles at Lavender, and tucks the piece of paper away and out of sight. Ginny leans over to try to read it, but Harry, with his Seeker reflexes, is too quick and all she must have been able to see is a piece of parchment with two blurred lines.

Harry winks, and motions for Lavender to continue.

Slowly, maybe even tauntingly, Lavender brushes aside her sleek curtain of hair to reveal one tattoo just at the base of her neck.

_Lavender Brown. _

When she came back, week after week, with another name, they didn't question it. After over a year, her work is done. The names are done; the dead are remembered. And now, finally, Lavender can mourn.

And again, they don't question her as she sits amongst lavender-scented candles and cries.


End file.
